Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

(www.psychiatrymargins.com)

262 points Anon84 | 3 comments | 28 Jun 25 21:22 UTC | HN request time: 0.46s | source

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tempestn ◴[29 Jun 25 17:40 UTC] No.44414865[source]▶

This is fascinating, and makes me wonder if human intelligence itself is such a cliff edge trait. For most of human history our advanced intelligence has obviously been a benefit, but now we see, as people and societies become wealthier and better educated (both correlated with intelligence), their reproduction rates drop precipitously. Perhaps we've overshot the intelligence cliff and evolution is now gradually pulling us back. (Evidence of this would be less intelligent people having more children on average than more intelligent ones.)

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varjag ◴[29 Jun 25 17:55 UTC] No.44414980[source]▶

>>44414865 #

There is no evidence people are measurably more intelligent now than two-three decades ago.

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1. _ink_ ◴[29 Jun 25 18:10 UTC] No.44415090[source]▶

>>44414980 #

I think there is evidence: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

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2. aleph_minus_one ◴[30 Jun 25 00:36 UTC] No.44417988[source]▶

>>44415090 (TP) #

And there is evidence that this trend has been reversing in the last decade(s) (Reverse Flynn Effect):

3. varjag ◴[30 Jun 25 07:39 UTC] No.44420517[source]▶

>>44415090 (TP) #

Nearly everything around you save for a sliver of software was invented (and often built) by people over the last hundred years. There is no empirical evidence for qualitative difference in intelligence, certainly not to account for sudden onset of infertility.

If the effect from 1934 to 2008 had been 14 points (believable given advances in nutrition and education), what had it been from 2008 to 2025? And is it reasonable to believe that those hypothesized couple points from the old median did it?

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